As this bar year kicks off, the Paralegal Division Council wants to introduce the members that are serving in leadership roles this year. The Paralegal Division offers members the opportunity to play a role in shaping the direction of the division in a variety of ways, from serving as an officer, council member, committee chair or section liaison to planning CPEs, volunteering for a pro bono opportunity or contributing to the blog!

Please take a minute to get to know this year’s officers and be on the lookout for future posts introducing more members of the council.

Check out the 2017 Legislative Bulletin for a look at changes made in the North Carolina General Statutes this session that may affect your practice of the law. Provided by the NCBA Office of Governmental Affairs, the Legislative Bulletin includes a summary of bills tracked by an NCBA section or committee or the Office of Governmental Affairs during the 2017 session of the General Assembly.

Go to page 3 for a table of contents hyperlinked via section and committee.

These summaries are designed to put you on notice of changes to the law, but they are not intended to instruct you fully as to those changes; there is no substitute for reading the Session Laws themselves. Our purpose is to offer a tool to assist in your practice and we hope you will find that this publication serves your purpose.

Art MacCord is a patent attorney with 38 years of experience. He keeps an eye on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. Copyright Office for new rules and practice tips of interest to intellectual property attorneys. Please click on the links below for the most recent updates.

Ever wonder how lawyers with great jobs got their sweet gigs? Then this free event is for you. Join us at the N.C. Bar Center on Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 6 p.m. for a panel of practicing attorneys who have career advice to share. Get more details and register here.

Panelists are Nicholas Dowgul of Felton Banks PLLC, Wes Saunders of the N.C. DOJ, Lyle Gravatt with NK Patent Law, and Daniel Moose of The Law Offices of Daniel R. Moose. Starting Out Solo is free, and dinner will be provided, so RSVP. All law students and legal professionals who want to learn more about law practice management are encouraged to attend. For questions, contact Jeremy Williams.

In advance of the panel, Lyle Gravatt answered a few questions about his path from $10-an-hour tech analyst to firm attorney with NK Patent Law.

Q: With experience as an entrepreneur and a degree in physics, what motivated you to pursue a law degree and practice?

A: I had a very nontraditional pathway to a legal career. I started out as a biophysics researcher and slowly realized that being in a lab just wasn’t for me. I had some skills as an extrovert that the lab setting didn’t allow me to use. And working in a lab has a very narrow focus. So, I went the complete opposite direction and I got involved in entrepreneurship, particularly sales. That again steered me toward an industry that was very narrowly focused. I was merely exercising the social aspects of myself and not really challenging the intellectual aspects. After trying out those two extremes I felt like the legal field would allow me to exercise my intellectual passions and my passion for people and my more extroverted tendencies. And intellectual property law allowed me to dive back into the science, which I always enjoyed.

Q: How did you arrive at your current position?

A: When I first graduated from law school at the University of Mississippi, I went to work for the law school developing a pro bono program that’s now in place. After I left, I was studying for the Louisiana bar, and I was really struggling, trying to get an IT job in that area. So, I packed up my bags, I put a bunch of suits in the car, printed out a bunch of resumes and I went on a Southeast tour – where all my friends lived — and started knocking on doors because emails and phone calls weren’t working.

When I got here to the Triangle area, somebody hired me for $10 an hour to be a tech analyst. It was a company that was associated with a law firm, where the tech company and the law firm worked together and were housed in the same offices. That was my in. I started out as a tech analyst, and a year later I was working in the law firm, and two years later I was transitioning out to a traditional law firm.

I saw the tech job as an opportunity to get into the company with my science background and allow myself to gain some legal experience and hopefully transition to the legal side, which did happen.

https://ncbarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00NCBARBLOGhttps://ncbarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngNCBARBLOG2017-09-25 12:47:512018-07-21 19:06:04How One Attorney Turned a $10-an-hour Tech Job Into a Career In Patent Law: Hear the Story at 'Starting Out Solo'

Ever wonder what the Paralegal Division Council does? Do you want to be more involved? Are you interested in leadership opportunities within the division?

We hope so. The council wants to provide members a better understanding of the workings of the Paralegal Division. For starters, the council is composed of a chair, vice chair, secretary, treasurer, council members (12 total in groups of 4, each serving a 3-year term), and committee chairs. The council meets approximately on a quarterly basis to discuss and vote on business matters of the division. At the beginning of each bar year, council members gather for a Strategic Planning Meeting to discuss goals for the upcoming year. We’d like to kick off the year by sharing some of our plans and goals for the year. Below are the highlights:

Collect short bios/headshots of council members to introduce the council to our members.

Make the division’s Orientation Manual available on the website so those who are interested in leadership opportunities can find out more about council duties and obligations.

Promote our committees with a solicitation to get involved, along with a link to the Committee Sign-Up Form.

Move the scholarship application period to January through March of each year in an effort to increase application submissions.

Reach out to the Law Practice Management Section to offer to be “boots on the ground” for new technology.

Promote the new NCBA Member App (iPhones and Androids). There are many valuable discounts available on the app (and not just things for work). There is more information about this on the NCBA website and ncbarblog.com. The Member App Code is memapp.

Change the Distinguished Paralegal nomination period to October through January.

Revive the Pro Bono Award with the winner(s) will be announced at our May CPE. The application will be revamped to allow for a group winner, instead of being limited to an individual winner.

Announce and recognize all of our award winners (Distinguished Paralegal, Student Scholarship Application, Member Scholarship Application and Pro Bono) at the beginning of the General Session at the May CPE. This way lunch can be used for the Annual Meeting and other announcements.

Create new essay topics for each of the Student and Member Scholarships.

Develop new topics for Webinars/Webcasts.

Research pro bono project opportunities.

Determine the location and date for the 2019 Annual Meeting (we are still under contract with Pinehurst for 2018).

Wow! It is a lot of items, and you may ask how it all gets done. All of the above is accomplished by a dedicated group of paralegal volunteers and we would love for more members to come aboard and make this another great year! Please contact Debbie Harris with any questions.

Gamblers aren’t the only ones complaining about pay-outs in North Carolina casinos. According to a class/collective action complaint (Clark v. Harrah’s NC Casino, LLC, 1:17-cv-240) filed on August 31, 2017, in the Western District of North Carolina, Harrah’s NC Casino Company, LLC, has failed to pay employees wages and overtime compensation.

Joseph Clark, the named plaintiff, filed on behalf of himself and other similarly situated employees at Harrah’s Cherokee Valley Rivery Casino & Hotel and Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort, both of which are operated by Harrah’s NC Casino Co. The complaint includes both Fair Labor Standards Act and North Carolina Wage and Hour Act claims.

Specifically, the complaint states that “Harrah’s willfully, deliberately, and voluntarily failed to pay Plaintiff and other similarly situation gaming floor employees all overtime compensation in violation of the FLSA by requiring them to perform work during their meal breaks, but subjecting them to an automatic 30-minute meal break deduction.” It also explains, “Harrah’s willfully, deliberately, and voluntarily failed to pay Plaintiff and similarly situated gaming floor employees all promised and earned wages on their regular pay day for all hours worked in violation of the NCWHA by requiring them to perform work during their meal breaks, but subjecting them to an automatic 30-minute meal break deduction.” It further alleges violations of the FLSA and NCWHA related to requiring the plaintiff and similarly situated employees to perform work without pay prior to the start of their scheduled shifts.

Clark, in the complaint, asserts that the NCWHA class could be comprised of at least 1,000 individuals. This case is in its infancy, but it’s one to keep an eye on.

The North Carolina State Bar has learned that a caller representing an entity named “Small Business Growth Alliance” is calling lawyers and telling them that their IOLTA accounts are due for audit. The caller falsely claims that Small Business Growth Alliance is authorized by the State Bar to perform random audits and tries to schedule the audits.

Neither Small Business Growth Alliance nor any entity other than the State Bar is authorized to perform a State Bar random trust account audit. Auditors who are employees of the State Bar perform all random trust account audits. If you are selected for a random State Bar audit, you will be contacted by a State Bar official and will receive a written subpoena signed by State Bar officials.

If you receive a call from anyone other than an employee of the State Bar seeking to arrange a State Bar random trust account audit, please report the call to the State Bar immediately at (919)828-4620 and, if possible, provide the caller’s contact information.

https://ncbarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Scam-Blog.jpg20834750NCBARBLOGhttps://ncbarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngNCBARBLOG2017-09-22 11:01:032017-09-22 11:01:03NC State Bar Warns: Beware Calls For IOLTA Audit From Third Party

Art MacCord is a patent attorney with 38 years of experience. He keeps an eye on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. Copyright Office for new rules and practice tips of interest to intellectual property attorneys. Please click on the links below for the most recent updates.

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